Digging out old Coupes

[Tom Nas]

Hi all,

Today, we retrieved two very special cars from their resting place, where 
they'd been standing for at least five years: two early '81 Coupe GT 5Ses, 
1.9-litre carb I-5s. Part of the very first batch to come to Holland, both 
are very original and unmolested, if somewhat rusty and overgrown. One is 
an automatic, the other a '4+E' manual. They were stored outside (out of 
view, which is what probably saved them) so both cars were covered in green 
slime and moss (which makes for spectacular photography), one even had 
grass and two small birch trees growing on the rear spoiler. Naturally, the 
brakes had seized long ago, making the retrieval rather complicated. 
Eventually, we got most of the wheels unlocked and the cars winched onto 
their respective trailers. The tow vehicles ('85 200 tq Avant and '95 A6 
2.8 q Avant) had no problems whatsoever taking the cars to their new 
hideout just across the German border.

We were originally going to strip both cars for parts (many of which have 
been unavailable for years) because they were complete and undamaged. 
However, next Saturday we'll clean the cars first and try to get them 
running, so we can assess their condition. These are really nice and 
unadulterated examples of a rare car, and they're probably the oldest 
examples in the country. We might end up restoring one, or even both the cars.

Pics of the cars in 'as-found' condition will be uploaded soon, I'll post 
the URL when they're up.

Tom